1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to the preparation of produce for processing. More specifically, the present application relates to washing a cored lettuce head.
2. Related Art
A major market has been found for pre-made salads, usually marketed in plastic bags. The lettuce for such pre-made salads needs to be washed before it can be incorporated. The mass production of such salads requires the lettuce to be washed on a mass production scale.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,067, U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,237, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,375 describe one apparatus for washing such salads, which includes a perforated platform connected to and supporting a tripod, or other lettuce head guide, that fits into the core hole. The guide includes three L-shaped vanes that project from the support platform. The platform includes supports for a lettuce head holder. The holder has an opening sufficiently large to permit the guide to project through the opening with the holder in a first position over the guide. The opening in the holder includes, near the top of the holder, a recess, preferably of sufficient size and shape to receive and support a cored head of lettuce. In a first position, a core hole of the cored head of lettuce is placed over the guide and into the recess of the holder, with the lettuce head otherwise resting in the recess of the holder. A nozzle at the proximal end of a siphon discharges a spray of aqueous solution vertically into and through the area within the guide, and into and around the cored area of a lettuce head to wash the head efficiently.
The holder is pivotally connected to two holder supports. The two holder supports are connected to the support platform so that the holder can move upwardly from the first, horizontal position, where the guide projects through the opening in the holder, to a second raised position at a distance of 45 to 75 degrees from the first position. This movement to a second position unseats the cored area of the lettuce head from the guide and propels the lettuce head onto a conveyor that carries the cored washed lettuce head from the washing apparatus.
Disadvantageously, the holder pushes the lettuce to unseat the cored area of the lettuce head from the guide and propel the lettuce head on the conveyer. Such a pushing configuration applies an amount of force against the lettuce head, which may be sufficient to bruise or otherwise damage the lettuce head. Additionally, the chamber houses various moving parts and a complex pressurizing system, which is relatively costly to manufacture and may be costly to maintain.